Gyles Brandreth Instagram – 📚Mini Book Review 📚
Quit Lit / The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober by Catherine Gray
Bit of a different one this week but I think it counts.
The term quit lit was first coined in 2015 and it’s really taken off as a genre in the last ten years especially now all the young folks seem to be off the booze and into their ‘boundaries’.
I first tip-toed into the genre with The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober, which was an unexpected joy to read – it was engaging, moving and full real insight and pratical advice. It came out in 2017 so was quite an early example of the genre and has been one of it’s biggest success, especially here in the UK, at last count it had sold over 200,000 copies.
What I enjoy about quit lit is it tends to be a blend of memoir and self-help. You get the slightly voyeuristic thrill of being given access into someone’s darkest moments but you also get the redemptive narrative arc which always ends up being one of hope (and one of the protagonist writing the book you now have in your sober little paws) Plus useful tips on how to live a healthier life and the philosophical/psychological whys and wherefores of questioning our individual and societal relationship with the grog.
Since reading TUJOBS I’ve also read:
📚How to quite like a Woman by Holly Whitaker
– very American, lots of spiritual, Gabi Bernstein, Course in Miracles stuff, not one to read if you are into the patriarchy – or if you are not into constant references to the patriarchy
📚The Sober Diaries By Clare Pooley
– posh mummy wine o’clock vibes with a cancer plot twist.
Other’s I’ve not read but that are on my list:
📚Blackout: Remembering the things I drank to forget by Sarah Hepola
📚This Naked Mind by Annie Grace
📚Nothing Good Can Come from This by Kristi Coulter
📚Sober Curious by Ruby Warrington.
Do let me know if you’ve read them, what your thoughts were and if there any others you think I should have on my radar.
Cx
PS don’t know if it really counts but one of the best books I’ve ever read about alcohol was 📚Pour Me: A life by A.A. Gill. A really beautiful brilliant memoir. | Posted on 11/Jul/2024 21:02:44
